Banner - Mitigation

Link to Sacramento Levee Upgrades Project Overview

Link to Sacramento Levee Upgrades - American River Levee Work

Link to Sacramento Levee Upgrades - Sacramento River Levee Work

Link to Sacramento Levee Upgrades - Sacramento Weir Work

Current Page - Sacramento Levee Upgrades - Mitigation

Documents

ARCF Final General Reevaluation Report - Jan 2016
Main Report
Appendices

ARCF Final EIS-EIR - Jan 2016
Main Report
Appendices

Contact Information

For more information on
Sacramento Levee Upgrades,
please contact us at the following:

Phone:
916-557-5100

E-mail:
spk-pao@usace.army.mil

Mailing Address:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Sacramento District
1325 J Street, Room 1513
Sacramento, CA 95814

How are we mitigating?

The Sacramento Metropolitan area is one of the most at risk areas for flooding in the United States. The purpose of the American River Watershed Common Features project (ARCF) is to improve the existing infrastructure to reduce flood risk along the American and Sacramento Rivers. The bank protection work and associated mitigation you are seeing along the LAR is a small piece of this larger project. In order to complete the life and safety work, we have to improve the levee and riverbank conditions in the parkway. This work occurring under the ARCF project results in impacts to the existing habitat which must be mitigated for according to the biological opinions.

Mitigation is an action taken to reduce the severity and intensity of the proposed work on the existing environment. Mitigation of impacts can apply to many things such as noise, air or water quality, traffic and special status species. The mitigation process begins with construction designing. During design the project team works to balance the project purpose with the existing environment that it needs to occur in. Then, project design and its footprint are refined, all avoidable impacts are identified and removed, and once impacts can be reduced no further, is compensation required.

Once all phases of ARCF 2016 are complete, the Sacramento and American Rivers will provide better quality habitat and a more scenic views thanks to the native vegetation that will be planted at every site. 

Restoration is an action taken to repair, renovate, or replace the lost form and function of an altered or degraded habitat. For information on Sacramento District environmental projects, please visit our website: https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental-Projects/

Status of the American River Common Features (ARCF) 2016 Flood Risk Management Project, Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Subsequent Environmental Impact Report XIV (SEIS/SEIR)

The ARCF 2016 Flood Risk Management Project SEIS/SEIR XIV was prepared to address design refinements made to the 2016 ARCF General Reevaluation Report (GRR) Final EIS/EIR. Refinements include changes to designs associated with the Magpie Creek Project, American River Erosion Contract 3B, 4A, and 4B, Sacramento River Erosion Contract 3, American River Mitigation Site, Sacramento River Mitigation Site, and installation of a Piezometer Network.

USACE and the non-federal Partners received public comments from December 22, 2023, until February 23, 2024, during the extended comment period of 63 days. We are no longer accepting comments and have shifted focus to finalize the comprehensive comment log to ensure every comment is captured and adequately responded to by a subject matter expert, including environmental resources, engineering, project management staff. For perspective, we have logged nearly 900 comment letters. The Public Involvement appendix of the Final SEIS/SEIR will include all public and agency comments and responses, and the resulting text changes made to the SEIS/SEIR.

Announcements for future public outreach associated with the Project Components in this SEIS/SEIR will be posted on www.sacleveeupgrades.com

Any further questions regarding the ARCF 2016 Project can be directed to USACE. Public Affairs Office: SPK-PAO@usace.army.mil

The public may still view the Draft SEIS/SEIR at the links below, and the recorded public meetings held on January 10th, and 16th, 2024 under the Public Engagements tab.

The Draft SEIS/SEIR is available here: – Draft SEIS-SEIR Report
The Draft SEIS/SEIR Appendices are available here: – Draft SEIS-SEIR Appendices

Note: A public commenter brought to our attention that Section 3.5.2 American River Erosion Contracts 3B North, 3B South, and 4B, in the Draft SEIS/SEIR omitted Figures 3.5.2-11 and 3.5.2-12 (page 3-42). These diagrams have been available to the public in the Presentation Slides under Public Engagements on Slide Number 11. You may also view the link below. These Figures will be added to the Final SEIS/SEIR.
Figure 3.5.2-11, 3.5.2-12
LAR C3B trees upstream 20240216
LAR C3B trees downstream 20240216

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found hereFAQ

USACE published the Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare the ARCF SEIS/SEIR in the Federal Register (Vol. 87, No. 194) on October 7, 2022, with an update posted in the Federal Register (Vol. 87, No. 199) on October 17, 2022. 

  • Original NOI can be found HERE.  
  • Corrected NOI which extended the scoping period can be found HERE.  
  • The public scoping period was extended to December 31, 2022.

Public scoping for this SEIS/SEIR was initiated in November 2022. Virtual public scoping meetings were held November 2, and November 30, 2022, to discuss the development of the Draft SEIS/SEIR. Scoping resulted in 69 categorized comments, one-third of which were related to habitat mitigation concerns. Appendix A, Scoping Report, in the Draft SEIS/SEIR contains scoping comments and the corresponding responses. The presentation slides and meeting recording can be found here:

Virtual Scoping Meeting Presentation Slides (Updated November 30)
Virtual Scoping Meeting Recording

American River

The American river is undergoing erosion protection efforts as part of ARCF. Additional information on those details and contracts can be found on our American River Page (https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Sacramento-Levee-Upgrades/American-River-Levees/).

 The Lower American River (LAR) was designated as a federal Wild and Scenic River in 1981 and designated as a state wild and scenic river in 1972 for its outstanding recreational and fisheries values. The protected area stretches from the Nimbus dam to the confluence of the Sacramento River.  These state and federal designations require that any project completed on the river does not impact the outstanding values, and that any mitigation be completed within the same stretch of the river. What this means, is that to the greatest extent possible, all LAR impacts be mitigated for on the LAR.  

American River - Current/Future Projects

Sacramento River

The Sacramento River is undergoing erosion protection and seepage, stability and overtopping efforts as part of ARCF, additional information on those details and contracts can be found on our Sacramento River Page (https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Sacramento-Levee-Upgrades/Sac-River-Levees/) and the Sacramento Weir page (https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Sacramento-Levee-Upgrades/Sacramento-Weir/). 

Sacramento River - Current/Future Projects

Completed Projects/Contracts

Frequently Asked Questions